Are desk legs with one screw strong enough for a desk?

Question

I see cheap metal legs such as IKEA's ADILS for sale, and I wanted to know if they're considered strong enough for a desk. The scenario is that I have a wood "plate" which I would like to attach legs to and convert it into a desk.

The reason I'm asking is because it seems that the way they're attached to the desk is by attaching a disk with multiple screws, but then attaching the leg to the disk with only one screw. It seems like if I put the table on its side (in order to remove the legs for moving, for example), there will be a lot of pressure from the side until the desk is actually lying on its side, and all of that pressure will be on two screws - one per leg.

So is this type of leg considered good practice for desk legs?

score 7 · Answer 1 · answered Oct 13 '21 at 13:34

You're not suppose to attach a table's legs with the table on its side.

The legs are never designed for that kind of stress. You're talking about a leg that is at least a meter long.

The proper way to attach them is with them flipped over, and, with multiple people, flip the table upright without leaning it on its side.

If you really must assemble a table by yourself, best to prop it up from the bottom and attach the legs that way. You shouldn't attach two legs and then prop it up sideways, because no legs are designed to handle that kind of stress and will break.

score 5 · Accepted Answer · answered Oct 13 '21 at 14:15

"Strong enough" is a hard question to answer.

There's two kinds of "strong" here. One is the strength against pushing straight down on the desk, and the other is pushing to the side (laterally) against the length of the legs.

Because the legs are individually attached at essentially one point, the legs act as levers when forces are applied laterally to the legs. The longer the legs, the stronger the "lever action".

Even if you got the threaded connections as tight as humanly possible, the lever action of the length of the leg would make short work of loosening up the connection--either between the leg and the mounting bracket, or the bracket and the desktop. Especially if the desktop is particle board, MDF, or a soft wood. There just isn't enough "connection" to resist racking over time.

This is why most tables/desks are built with "stretchers" or "skirting" (whatever you choose to call it) connecting the legs together at another point besides where they connect to the top surface. This makes all the legs a single "unit" which effectively becomes a "box" of sorts when attached to the tabletop (desktop) at more than one point and is a much more resilient arrangement which stands up to lateral stresses much better.

So, while IKEA and other manufacturers sell thousands of such legs, the answer is: No, it is not a good practice. The furniture built this way will fail sooner than it would if built conventionally.

Are desk legs with one screw strong enough for a desk?

2 Answers2